A step by step guide on how to buy & store the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency

What is Monero?

Monero is a cryptocurrency focusing on private and censorship-resistant transactions.

What are XMR coins?

Monero is electronic cash that allows fast, cheap payments to and from anywhere in the world.

Important note

This guide is not, and should not be regarded as 'investment advice' or as a 'recommendation' regarding a course of action.

How to buy Monero

Important: The links in this guide are correct as to the best of our knowledge. It is your own responsibility to double check that clicked links look correct in your browser bar, and that any wallet you install on your computer is from a legitimate source.

Note: Images can be clicked to see a larger version. If you're confused by any terms used, a glossary can be found here.

First we need to install a wallet on your computer to store your Monero coins.
We recommend the official wallet downloaded here.

Choose the correct wallet for your operating system, download the file,
unzip it and install the wallet.

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Your computer may ask you to approve the wallet connecting to the internet through your firewall. You must agree to allow it access for the wallet to work.

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Once the wallet is open, it'll ask you to choose your language.

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The Monero wallet will now give you some options. Choose 'Create a new wallet'.

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On the next screen you'll be asked to name your wallet. This can be anything, but make it something that will be obvious to you in the future.

The wallet will be displaying your private seed. It's very important to copy this seed somewhere safe and private (think multiple external hard drives and/or USB drives that you put somewhere safe). Anyone with access to this seed can open your wallet from any computer.

You will also have the option to change the default place where your wallet will be saved on your computer.

It's up to you if you change this, but make a note of where this wallet folder is being saved- it would be wise to back it up after this guide (again, think multiple external hard drives and/or USB drives that you put somewhere safe).

Once you've saved your seed etc. press the right arrow button.

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Now you'll be asked to input a password for your wallet. Make this secure but also something you'll remember- you don't want to forget it and lose access to your coins/money!

Once you've put your password in twice, press the right arrow button.

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You'll be presented with a summary of your new wallet.

Click 'Use Monero'

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The wallet will now start.

You may be asked to allow access through your firewall again. You must allow access for the wallet to work properly.

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The wallet will now set about synchronizing with the Monero blockchain.

This can take a while. The blockchain is now over 13 gigabytes. Feel free to leave your computer running overnight for it to finish downloading.

Thankfully, you can still receive Monero coins while you're waiting.

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Click the button 'Receive'.

You'll be presented with an address (a very long line of numbers and letters)

Keep your wallet open as we're going to need the address soon.

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Now we'll purchase the popular cryptocurrency Ethereum, so that we can exchange it for Monero (if you already own Ethereum you can skip ahead).

Choose which Ethereum exchange you'd like to use (by clicking on the logo), and the guide will continue:

There are also some other exchanges (but without step by step guides) listed here.

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If you use this link to sign up to Coinbase we'll both receive ten dollars of free coins when you spend over $100 (or the equivalent in your currency).

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Press the 'sign up' button and fill out your name (make sure this is exactly how it's written on your photo ID), email, password and location.

Just like a US bank, Coinbase is regulated by the US government, and has to follow strict financial rules. So they take verifying your identity very seriously. It's a pain, but it does give Coinbase a reputation for being the most trusted way to convert fiat currency to cryptocurrency.

To verify your account you must supply a phone number, upload an image of your photo ID and verify a credit/debit card or bank account before you can buy.

Once the Ethereum shows in your 'available balance' we're ready to trade for Monero.

Click here to jump straight to the XMR/ETH exchange market on Binance.

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The exchange page can look overwhelming at first, but don't worry, we're only going to use a small part of it.

There are two ways of buying coins:

A 'Limit' order, which lets you manually set the price at which you want to buy XMR.

A 'Market' buy, which fills your order automatically at the best price available.

As market buy is the simpler of the two options we'll go with that.

Look for the big green 'Buy XMR' button.

Above it, click the 'Market' option.

In the input box marked 'Amount' you now need to fill in how many XMR you'd like to buy. It may be easier to use the percentage buttons below the input box- for example, press 50% if you'd like to exchange 50% of your Ethereum for XMR.

When you're happy with the amount, press the buy button.

Your order will be filled immediately.

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Press 'Funds' along the top menu, then 'Deposits Withdrawals'.

In the search box, type XMR. You will now see your new XMR in your XMR wallet.

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If you're comfortable with it, you could just leave your coins on Binance and they would probably be safe. However, exchanges have been hacked in the past, and people have lost coins, so we do recommend you keep them in a personal wallet. Here's how:

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